The only reason why I paid to see ex-comedian, Shim Hyung Rae’s hit movie, D-war (short for Dragon wars) was simply to support the Korean movie industry. Since it opened 2 weeks ago, D-war has already surpassed the 2000 hit movie, JSA, with 6 million movie-goers as of August 14th. At this rate, the movie will surely reach the #1 movie of all time in Korea.
Having said that, the movie has good and bad points (although mostly bad). First the good.The computer graphics were awesome – especially in the long-drawn out “war” scene in the city. Also, Mr. Shim did good by choosing cutie Jason Behr as the lead – the man is definitely eye candy despite his tacky suits and questionable acting skills. I wish I can think of more, but I can’t. So I will move on to the bad.
Before setting foot in the theater, I had extremely low expectations after reading extreme reviews – either people loved it or hated it with a passion. And well, after sitting a full 94 minutes in the theater, I have to say that D-War lived up to my expectations. The acting was wooden, there were gaps in the storyline, the scenes were unnecessarily drawn out, and minor details were emphasized. For example, we could hear the fighter pilots talking and commenting during battle. Do we need to hear what they say? Are they showing off their English skills? Also, why is there a need for a drawn out battle scene in the middle of L.A.? I think it lasted at least 10 minutes (although I could be wrong). Totally unnecessary. Further, the prehistoric mammals looked like they were bought at a cheap price from Lord of the Rings. And the main characters, “Ethan”, played by Jason Behr and Amanda Brooks, who played “Sarah” didn’t have chemistry and they don’t seem to believe in the Korean legend of Imoogi. Also, the connection between the white characters and the Korean legend is not explained properly. But there is really no need to explain since it is obvious that Caucasians were cast in this movie because Mr. Shim and his Korean cohorts were deliberately trying to target the broader international market. This is what bothers me most about this movie. Basically, Mr. Shim has sold out the Korean people in favor of the white actors with questionable acting skills. The Korean actors were so much better.
Shame Shame, Mr. Shim.
i’d like to check this out. The other film released in the U.S that Shim directed became a cult classic and was a top rental at video stores in the U.S. I think the film was called Reptilia?
I have to check that one out as well.
I mean, I use to watch this guy do those old ShiGol comedies when I was a little kid. I never imagined him becoming a director for SciFi films.
btw, thanks for the review
first…it started off looking like an episode of Hercules and Xena. it sure has come a long way….and even though it has hollywood blockbuster written all over it…it looks like a fun monster flick like hell boy.
wow this movie looks like nonsense…
its like a really bad version of godzilla
i saw d-war and thought it was alright. when the credits started rolling some in the audience clapped which was a little corny.
my opinion about the movie over all is that the story line was extremely choppy, the scenes were drawn out way too long, and lastly the acting sucked. notice how awkward the bad guy with the sword was – his menacing voice didn’t match his persona, it was laughable. if hollywood remakes this movie it might be more enjoyable to watch. the only plus about d-war is shim hyung rae will at least be able to look back at this and make a better movie next time.
(koreans please don’t get defensive, there are a ton of sucky american movies out there as well.)
isn’t it funny — all the bad points you list usually keep people AWAY from a movie!
>> “The only reason why I paid to see ex-comedian, Shim Hyung Rae’s hit movie, D-war (short for Dragon wars) was simply to support the Korean movie industry.”
you gotta hand it to shim, genius champ at marketing. somehow paying for his korean movie, and not the MANY other korean movies made with better actors/script/experience (if less CGI), is the only way to “support korean film industry”.
hell, at the rate D-WAR is tearing through the media like a bad mother, i’m gonna see it too just so i know what everyone and their dog is barking about. it’s no longer just about a (bad) movie:PP
It looks like Jurassic Park II gone retarded.
“It looks like Jurassic Park II gone retarded.”
hahahaha…after I read that, I just couldn’t stop laughing.
It looks corny. I’v never heard of it. Is it one of those straight to DVD films.
ah whatever. one way or another, the only way for an Asian film (with actual Asians as main characters) to go mainstream in America even today is
1.) to be ridiculously Asian – a la Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and go scampering around in traditional clothes
2.) fight with hand to hand martial arts or swords
3.) do anime Miyazaki style
Of course there are the exception of a few – but even using the word “mainstream” only means getting a degree of name recognition by a general audience, not just movie buffs and critics – not necessarily being box office hits in the US.
Now that I think of it I think Crouching Tiger is the only Asian movie that made a significant profit compared to other American releases in the US box office. Which pretty much tells you what Americans looks for in Asian movies.
Why do they do that? Cast westerners and then complain that the West won’t accept a movie without them. Phooey. They never give the US a chance (well, to be fair, maybe it is the US distributors that don’t give movies with Asian leads a chance–they never give the US audience a chance).
It’s not the people in America, I swear–they are ready for some hot Asian stars. The papers in the states made a big deal about how popular the one Asian guy in “Heroes,” the TV show, is, all surprised! Duh. Eventually someone will be brave and figure it out…it took them a while to figure out that Hispanics can be sexy, but it seems like they’ve finally gotten that message. It’s just a matter of time before they “discover” Asians, too.
Don’t forget Rain has ~40 minutes of screen time in the soon-to-be-completed “SpeedRacer,” due out in May 2008. I know not everyone is a Rain fan, but he may be the one to crack the western market…
Just finish to watch the trailer and Im O_o
My first thought is the special effects are really BAD n so is the storyline. 94 min! I wonder how you managed to keep your eyes open?
Whoa! Dumb storyline or not, after watching the preview, I cannot help but be impressed with the graphics considering they only used shots of the city. When I first saw the poster, I thought the building where the Imoogi was wrapped around looked quite familiar and when I found out D-War’s set in L.A. (I work in a nearby tower) I realized it’s the USBank tower…Kewl! Now I have to watch the movie when it’s out on DVD. At least I know what to expect even if the acting is horrible.
Thanks to Popseoul for the review!
Oooohhhhhkaaaaayyyy….O.O
but the beginning of the trailer looks cool =)
Great review!
That thing looks like something on sale at Petco.
The movie looks okay.
I’d watch it.
jason behr! huggg
That’s one LONG trailer.
Thanx for the review but the trailer doesn’t look half as bad.
I’ll be waiting for it to “come to a theater near me” and check it out.
Sorry but the rule is that studios know what the American people want…even though they are wrong.
As for the graphics…I mean that won’t be much of a pull seeing as almost everything coming out of American studios is soo over done with graphics D-War looks unimpressive in that regards.
If people have to read subtitles its going to tank…
…and about the whole Asians in American Films and not being accepted yet…read up on the history of this country…progress like that doesn’t happen over night.
They do what’s needed to make money. Most of the better Korean movies barely break even so the only way to emulate hollywood crap which in turns sells tickets like hotcakes.
Sucks! This has a good storyline and great graphics, but if only the actors were actually Korean. The fact of where the settings of the movie is and that the characters are Caucasian makes the story very far-fetched and unbelievable. It sucks how the world works, the only way the movie would of been played all over the world was to make the chars Caucasian. I don’t blame SHR becuz I get the ‘big picture’. If they had it all an Korean cast and instead of speaking Hangul, speak English. Would majority oppose it even then? If spoken Hangul, there would need to be subtitles and with subtitles the film doesn’t get its props as it should and ends up as far as the Sundance Film Festival hence Channel(I’m not saying Sundance is bad, but do u get what I mean?) and played at some rinky-dink old theater for old movies becuz it would be like a year later until ppl actually saw it. LoL I sound bitter don’t I?
the trailer looks cool – but my first thoughts were
Reign of fire meets Lord of the rings. I’ll see it if i can get a free ticket
Se7enfan
Asians have been at the door for a long time and its time for a change.I definitely believe in the Korean actors who oppose Screen Quotas in favor of foreign films. One must support their film industry. Of course I believe in order to sucessfully challenge foreign films one has to adjust their stategy. I see a majority of films following that same trend of either martial arts, or gangsta movies. That is a part of Asian culture but that is NOT Asian culture.
Besides Perhaps Love what is the last all Asian musical that was a huge success? I know the name but does anyone else? Also besides Takeshi Kaneshiro(who is known mainly in Asian Cinema),Chow-Yun Fat, Ken Wanatabe and Bruce Lee who are the last great sex symbols that excited female audiences. I know only two and that has been many many years ago. When I look at People’s most popular list not beautiful there couldve easily been an Asian Male on the cover or how about People’s most SEXIEST list why can’t a So JI Sub or Kwon Sang Woo not be on the cover? or Chow Yun Fat or Ken Wanatabe, the last two being known in American markets as well. Rain made the People’s Most Beautiful List but he was considered a wordly beauty whey in the back of the book why could he have not been on the front or better yet in the front pages.
*sigh*
What a let-down. I actually didn’t know anything about this movie until just a week or so ago. And I didn’t realize it had Caucasians in it until I just read your review. This is what really kills me about the influx of Caucasian influences in Korea (and Japan for that matter–it seems like every single J-Rock video has a white woman in it): Koreans don’t need to have their culture, media, arts and commerce “enhanced” by the presence of white people (or any other race). Koreans are just fine with no help from anyone else. I am ALL for “cultural influences” (one thing I like about how the Japanese use western influences is how they put their own unique Japanese mark on everything they borrow) and I see no reason cultures can’t borrow from one another. But to have Caucasians in a Korean movie? Get real. To have white models advertising for Korean companies? Get real. To have white women in music videos. COME ON. As a Caucasian myself I can testify that those of us who are interested in “all things Asian” are NOT impressed by the presence of Caucasians every time we turn around. It’s not like we go “oh, look, it’s one of us!”. We want to see Koreans (or Japanese or Chinese) because that is what we LIKE. Please, we can see plenty of Caucasians in our own country, in our own movies, in our own music videos, in our own advertisements.
“It’s not the people in America, I swear–they are ready for some hot Asian stars.”
I agree!! Whether they are male or female, America is ready. Korea (and Japan, etc) just needs to take the chance–put out a quality project with the best looking and most talented (this is key as well, they need to ACT) actors and actresses they can find and go for it. Americans just need the exposure, that’s all.
If they’re so ready, why do you rarely see any well known korean, japanese or chinese actors in american movies, minus jackie chan i don’t believe there are many pure asian actors seen frequently on american TV, and i’m not talking about american actors who’s mother’s cousin twice removed is asian therefore so are they, i mean pure blood asian, born there, lived/lives there, speaks the language. Not that theres any problem at all with them casting american actors for american movies, i mean it makes sense, but then you can’t say america is ready for asians when we haven’t seen proof of this at all.
i really think that if your gonna do a site on korean entertainment news, you should write more about what the reporters and people said about it, instead of writing your own opinions. you gotta give this director props for just making the movie into the US box offices.
dwilliams
I understand what you mean about it being time for a change but don’t expect that change to just happen. Meaning if the Asian-American and Asian community want a change then they are going to have to be the ones to do it. The thing is no one is saying anything. You may have one or two finally getting their story out but the truth is many people probably don’t realize that this is a form of discrimination or that Asians are even discriminated against. Their presence is just not large enough yet. I say this out of what it took for my people to get that from this country. Just because its 2007 doesn’t make what you have to do to get your respect and rights any different. You still have to rally you still have to petition and even boycott. The Asian actors are still going to have to fight for a good role in a movie that is not stereotypical.
The biggest thing that will get the Asian Acting community through right now is get together an EPIC script with some Exceptional actors. Have it in English with enough financial backing to get it distributed on their own or go to a smaller but exceptional distributor like Lions Gate which I know are willing to take risks because they did that with Tyler Perry and all his Madea films. And the thing is that its not that American’s aren’t ready for Asians they just don’t see their presence here. Part of that is because of the media and the other part is that the many in the Asian community choose to just stay to their self. I mean its the same thing with the Korean concerts for Koreans which is cool but if you want to break into other markets that thinking is going to have to go out the window.
D-War is a truly horrible movie–even if you are in the mindset to enjoy a cheesy monster movie, it doesn’t even satisfy that.
I don’t see how D-War is supposed to be this great “Korean” movie. Looking on the IMDB, exponentially more Koreans worked on The Simpsons Movie than D-War. Not only the actors in D-War were non-Korean, most of the crew was too.
My review from a few weeks ago is here:
http://www.zenkimchi.com/videohunt/?p=79
And you couldn’t “support the Korean movie industry” by watching a different Korean movie?
yup the cg is definitely top quality…and i think that’ll be the only thing that will possibly save the movie…yeah..the acting, even in just the trailer is…eh, no comment on the acting…
“If they’re so ready, why do you rarely see any well known korean, japanese or chinese actors in american movies”
I don’t know about the other commentor, but I was referring to ASIAN movies in America, not AMERICAN movies with Asians in them. Though that is fine also. I like Asians and will take them anywhere I can find them. However, American movies simply don’t provide the appropriate vehicle for Asians to be taken seriously is strong, well-developed character roles. Asians need to get THEIR asses in gear and show Hollywood how it’s done.
“And you couldn’t “support the Korean movie industry” by watching a different Korean movie?”
Read ZenKimchi’s comments. D-War is BARELY Korean.
I for one will NOT be seeing it, not out of curiosity, not for special effects, NOTHING. I love Korean movies and it’s not my idea of a Korean movie if the main characters are American and so is most of the crew. Screw this crap.
I just bought loads of good stuff from YesAsia and a guy from Ebay, so I am set for the entire Autumn season with great Asian stuff. I don’t need Hollywood junk masquarading as Korean.
God, I’m really mad as hell. But I’m going to soothe this with my first ever Bae Yong Joon K-Drama, ‘April Snow’, as soon as it arrives in my mailbox.
This is the worst movie I have ever seen bar none. it is worse than all of michael bay’s movies (less transformers) combined. what irks me is all of the koreans who bear down on you the moment you “insult” the movie. for some reason the have linked this idiotic monstrosity to their korean identity. Shim is a marketing genious to have pulled of something like this. all of korea is praising this piece of crap, and I, as a korean, am soooo embarrassed. this movie will be laughed out of the theaters in foreign countries and the US will have such a bad opinion of Korean movies that it will hinder the next potentially good director from making inroads. If these so called Korean Patriots really wanted to be patriotic, they would protest to have this movie pulled from all foreign theaters so that Korea doesn’t become the laughing stock of the world. Sometimes I can’t stand koreas blind nationalism. There are soooooo many GREAT korean movies that can represent Korea… it boggles my mind that this travesty is the one thats picked to show the world what korea is made of.
korean and japanese don’t want to be asian!
they only want to be korean and japanese!
“There are soooooo many GREAT korean movies that can represent Korea… it boggles my mind that this travesty is the one thats picked to show the world what korea is made of.”
EXACTLY how I feel!!! And I’m not even Korean.
Among the Americans I know who saw ‘The Host’ they loved it. Even The Host may have its minor flaws but it was a GOOD, FUN Korean movie. And what about the films of Park Chan-Wook? HELLO? How about Choi Min-Sik, Jeon do-Yeon? Americans would have loved the hell out of ‘Oldboi’ had it been marketed to the U.S. and brought to the big screen. God, the movies are there—just bring them HERE.
God, the movies are there—just bring them HERE.
OH YES PLZ.
I was very very disappointed when I found out that HW’s going to make remakes of Old Boy, My sassy Girl, and JSA. Why can’t they just leave these great movies alone and bring the original to the US (and other parts of the world) rather than making half-baked remakes?
Infernal Affairs > The Departed.
Heard that the film was released in the UK and run for a 10-20 min longer than the Korean version. I feel sorry for the people in the UK!
“t looks like Jurassic Park II gone retarded.”
^^LMAO!!!
hey, it’s the guy from the TV show Roswell! (lowers her head in shame for watching such dumb show in high school)
I don’t mind the “bad” special effects as much as the acting…the acting looks awful..and the storyline doesn’t seem to make sense. I finished watching the clip and i still don’t understand what it is about…something about the white chick causing the dragons to appear??? something about a legend???? ok….
i think i WOULD want to watch it if it weren’t for the painfully bad acting….
@Yeli
I too feel your shame for watching that freaking show(so 쩔쩔매다 now) LMBO I always looked forward to the beginning theme song to Roswell hehe Dido’s song
Hahaha I got a big kick out of laughing at the trailer, especially the part where the (nurses?) throw their hands up? Is this coming out in America? I want to see it, it looks laughable. While I have seen a multitude of crappy Korean movies (Bus stop, 200..whatever., bichunmoo) Korea really is awesome because they made Chingoo and Too Beautiful to Lie, and some other good films.
Need more gangster films. But maybe with Bi and Dongwan from shinhwa… yeah, that would make a really good movie.
ok… the trailor just made my internet retarded -_- and the guys pronounciation sounds crappy to me for the dragon names o.O im just like being random… far XD they should make this into like a online game… cause i thought it was one is some begining part -_-||
dunno if i should watch dont like movies with english alot to be honest -.-
bad or good, I’ll go watch it anywayz just to support my fellow asian.
Sigh almighty at this film. I agree with people saying that Korea has its own film industry with good and bad films (just like any country’s film industry) so why don’t they bring those popular films to the West? Well, it is because there is no reason to do so! Just like only blockbuster US films would be shown in Asia. Everywhere in the world got Transformers and animated films like Ratatouille (though you’ll be hard pressed not to find one re-dubbed, even live-action films re-dubbed, which pisses me off because audio gets messed up and it LOOKS stupid) but you won’t get US rom-coms (that sell tickets fast with well-known actors to us) or US comedies shown there mainstream (will Koreans laugh at Ben Stiller in Zoolander or Meet The Parents like we did?). So why should a load of Korean/Asia films flood the West?
The only things that can cross borders are films without cultural attachment. By which I mean, films that anyone can like, not just people in that country. I doubt Koreans would appreciate rom-coms just as people in the West are not familiar with the tone of Korean movies (do you know what I mean? They tend to be slow-moving and long-winded. Just compare Il Mare to the more universally acceptable, better-paced Lake House). This said, though, I completely abhor remakes of classics (beware Hollywood remake of Battle Royale… it’s coming…) where storylines are butchered and the original is nothing more than a credit note in the opening sequence.
I liken this debate to Indian films. NOBODY in the West will sit through a 4-hour+ film. I think it is against the law in cinemas in UK at least. “POTC: Dead Man’s Chest” had to have a 10-minute intermission! Similary, some things don’t work. You must go to ‘art’ cinemas for that. And rightly so. When I was in Hong Kong in August I saw many films advertised that are normal for them (including Thai horror films) but that won’t come to the West. That’s just the way it is.
So, my bottom line is, if an Asian film wants mainstream coverage in the US, it must either be in English (a la Memoirs of a Geisha), involve martial arts/traditional elements (a la House of Flying Daggers/Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon which were subbed), have white people (… D-Wars…), or be posted with a fat bribe (unconfirmed as to whether this has happened yet lol).
This said, what do you think of Disturbia having one of the leads as that Japanese guy? I was shocked to see one. And he is an American, American accent and all!
Oh, and I also wanted to say that mainland European films get NO acclaim in the UK (or US) even though we are the same continent (I am from the UK). They only get shown at things like Cannes Film Festival. Nobody in the UK wants to watch a french film. The only European films that got somewhat distributed were films like “Amelie” and “Y Tu Mama Tambien” which still hardly anybody watched per se… Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Barnel rose to fame because they were good-looking and knew English, thus exportable to ‘our’ films. SIGH again. Juliette Binoche got her popularity by being in “Chocolat” with Johnny Depp (in ENGLISH) and Audrey Tautou from “Amelie” got in “Da Vinci Code” because they needed a French person and she is known and speaks English.
Every country has their own films to show their own people.
Nobody outside of the UK will watch “Run Fatboy Run”.
There are lots of great movies and dramas in Korea.. But D-War is an embarrassment. The cheesiest, worst script ever. The only two things good was the CG and having Jason Behr as eye candy (although I do agree he should have had better clothes and maybe hair). That Sarah girl was so bad at acting- she made the Dragons and other CG creatures look like Oscar winners. I wanted to find another means of torture whenever she was on screen. The token black friend (although super cliche) had a few comedic moments. But nothing can save this movie from being one of the worst ever made. Koreans have trashed this movie as being terrible too.. but have gone to see it purely out of curiosity and probably patriotism too.
I wish Korea stop making monster movies. Even if the CG is awesome, the storyline sucks. I don’t know why this kind of movie would hit the US.
The movie “King’s Man” (aka “The King and the Clown”) is awesome and it would be more awesome if it hit the US silver screen.
“Typhoon” and “Taeguki” with Jang Dong Gun, those movies were awesome, too.
I grew up watching Shim Hyung Rae’s comedy shows so I went to support his movie the opening day… dragged about 5 other friends of mine who I paid for… (not sure why I did that) but having the lowest expectation for this movie, it wasn’t too bad. Few of my friends said they wasted their time with this movie. I honestly think he could have done better going with a funny movie not a serious one. Comparing to LOTR, Harry Potter etc… it was not that great.
I think “The way home” or “Taegukgi” did way better. I dont understand why Taegukgi didnt premier in the states! It would have done good except when I watched it, I compared it to “Saving private Ryan” and felt like they copied graphic ideas…
Hi!,